Arab Music
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Arabic music () is the music of the
Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...
with all its diverse music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also many linguistic
dialects A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or iso ...
, with each country and region having their own
traditional music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
. Arabic music has a long history of interaction with many other regional musical styles and genres. It represents the music of all the peoples that make up the Arab world today.


History


Pre-Islamic period

Pre-Islamic Arabia Pre-Islamic Arabia is the Arabian Peninsula and its northern extension in the Syrian Desert before the rise of Islam. This is consistent with how contemporaries used the term ''Arabia'' or where they said Arabs lived, which was not limited to the ...
was the cradle of many intellectual achievements, including music, musical theory and the development of
musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...
s.'' Amnon Shiloah, Music in the World of Islam: A Socio-cultural Study, Wayne State University Press, 2000''
/ref> In
Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...
, the main center of pre-Islamic Arab sciences, literature and arts, musicians benefited from the patronage of the Kings of Sabaʾ who encouraged the development of music.''Singing in the Jahili period'' – khaledtrm.net
"Sharron Gu, A Cultural History of the Arabic Language"
/ref> For many centuries, the Arabs of
Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...
recognized that the best real Arabian music came from Yemen, and Hadhrami minstrels were considered to be superior. Pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula music was similar to that of Ancient Middle Eastern music. Most historians agree that there existed distinct forms of music in the Arabian peninsula in the pre-Islamic period between the 5th and 7th century AD. Arab poets of that time—called ''shu`ara' al-Jahiliyah'' (
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
: شعراء الجاهلية) or "Jahili poets", meaning "the poets of the period of ignorance"—used to recite poems with a high notes. It was believed that Jinns revealed poems to poets and music to musicians. The
choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...
at the time served as a pedagogic facility where the educated poets would recite their poems. Singing was not thought to be the work of these intellectuals and was instead entrusted to women with beautiful voices who would learn how to play some instruments used at that time such as the drum, the
lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...
or the
rebab ''Rebab'' (, ''rabāba'', variously spelled ''rebap'', ''rubob'', ''rebeb'', ''rababa'', ''rabeba'', ''robab'', ''rubab'', ''rebob'', etc) is the name of several related string instruments that independently spread via Islamic trading rout ...
, and perform the songs while respecting the
poetic metre In poetry, metre (British English, Commonwealth spelling) or meter (American English, American spelling; see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences) is the basic rhythm, rhythmic structure of a verse (poe ...
. The compositions were simple and every singer would sing in a single ''
maqam Maqam, makam, maqaam or maqām (plural maqāmāt) may refer to: Musical structures * Arabic maqam, melodic modes in traditional Arabic music ** Iraqi maqam, a genre of Arabic maqam music found in Iraq * Persian maqam, a notion in Persian clas ...
''. Among the notable songs of the period were the ''huda'' (from which the ''ghina'' derived), the ''nasb'', ''sanad'', and ''rukbani''.


Early Islamic period

Both compositions and improvisations in traditional Arabic music are based on the ''maqam'' system. ''Maqams'' can be realized with either
vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...
or
instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...
music, and do not include a
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...
ic component.
Al-Kindi Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī (; ; ; ) was an Arab Muslim polymath active as a philosopher, mathematician, physician, and music theorist Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understandin ...
(801–873 AD) was a notable early theorist of Arabic music. He joined several others like
al-Farabi file:A21-133 grande.webp, thumbnail, 200px, Postage stamp of the USSR, issued on the 1100th anniversary of the birth of Al-Farabi (1975) Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi (; – 14 December 950–12 January 951), known in the Greek East and Latin West ...
in proposing the addition of a makeshift fifth string to the oud. He published several tracts on musical theory, including the
cosmological Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...
connotations of music.. Pages 241 and 257. He identified twelve tones on the Arabic musical scale, based on the location of fingers on and the strings of the oud. Abulfaraj (897–967) wrote the ''
Kitab al-Aghani ''Kitāb al-Aghānī'' (), is an encyclopedic collection of poems and songs that runs to over 20 volumes in modern editions, attributed to the 10th-century Arabic writer Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, Abū al-Farāj al-Isfahānī (also known as al-Is ...
'', an encyclopedic collection of poems and songs that runs to over 20 volumes in modern editions.
Al-Farabi file:A21-133 grande.webp, thumbnail, 200px, Postage stamp of the USSR, issued on the 1100th anniversary of the birth of Al-Farabi (1975) Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi (; – 14 December 950–12 January 951), known in the Greek East and Latin West ...
(872–950) wrote a notable book on Islamic music titled '' Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir'' (The Great Book of Music). His pure Arabian tone system is still used in Arabic music.Habib Hassan Touma (1996), ''The Music of the Arabs'', p. 170, trans. Laurie Schwartz, Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press,
Al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...
(1059–1111) wrote a treatise on music in
Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
which declared, "Ecstasy means the state that comes from listening to music". In 1252, Safi al-Din developed a unique form of
musical notation Musical notation is any system used to visually represent music. Systems of notation generally represent the elements of a piece of music that are considered important for its performance in the context of a given musical tradition. The proce ...
, where
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...
s were represented by
geometric Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...
representation. A similar geometric representation would not appear in the Western world until 1987, when Kjell Gustafson published a method to represent a rhythm as a two-dimensional graph.


Al-Andalus

By the 11th century, Islamic Iberia had become a center for the manufacture of instruments. These goods spread gradually throughout France, influencing French
troubadour A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''. The tr ...
s, and eventually reaching the rest of Europe. The English words
lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...
, rebec, and naker are derived from Arabic oud, rabab or Maghreb rebab, and naqareh.


16th to 19th century

Bartol Gyurgieuvits (1506–1566) spent 13 years as a slave in the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
. After escaping, he published ''De Turcarum ritu et caermoniis'' in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
in 1544. It is one of the first European books to describe music in Islamic society.


20th century–present

In the early 20th century,
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
was the first in a series of Arab countries to experience a sudden emergence of
nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...
, as it became independent after 2000 years of foreign rule. English, French and European songs were replaced by national Egyptian music.
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
became a center for musical innovation. Female singers were some of the first to adopt a secular approach. Egyptian performer
Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum (; 31 December 1898 – 3 February 1975) was an Egyptians, Egyptian singer and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. She was given the honorific title (). Immensely popular throughout the Middle East and beyond, Umm Kul ...
and Lebanese singer Fairuz were notable examples of this. Both have been popular through the decades that followed and considered legends of Arabic music. Moroccan singer Zohra Al Fassiya was the first female singer to achieve wide popularity in the Maghreb region, performing traditional Arab Andalusian folk songs and later recording numerous albums of her own. During the 1940s and 1960s, Arabic music began to take on a more Western tone – Egyptian artists
Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum (; 31 December 1898 – 3 February 1975) was an Egyptians, Egyptian singer and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. She was given the honorific title (). Immensely popular throughout the Middle East and beyond, Umm Kul ...
and Abdel Halim Hafez along with composers Mohammed Abdel Wahab and Baligh Hamdi pioneered the use of western instruments in Egyptian music. By the 1970s several other singers had followed suit and a strand of Arabic pop was born. Arabic pop usually consists of Western styled songs with Arabic instruments and lyrics. Melodies are often a mix between Eastern and Western. Western pop music was also influenced by Arabic music in the early 1960s, leading to the development of
surf music Surf music (also known as surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is inst ...
, a rock music genre that later gave rise to
garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock music that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is ...
and
punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
. Surf rock pioneer
Dick Dale Richard Anthony Monsour (May 4, 1937 – March 16, 2019), known professionally as Dick Dale, was an American Rock music, rock guitarist. He was a pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scale (music), scales and experimenting wit ...
, a
Lebanese American Lebanese Americans () are Americans of Lebanese descent. This includes both those who are native to the United States of America, as well as immigrants from Lebanon and Latin America. Lebanese Americans comprise 0.79% of the American populatio ...
guitarist, was greatly influenced by the Arabic music he learnt from his uncle, particularly the oud melodies and skills which he later applied to his
electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...
playing when recording surf rock in the early 1960s. Baligh Hamdi who created and composed many hit songs for several Arab singers, frequently said that he drew upon musical ideas and aesthetics in Egyptian folk melodies and rhythms in composing his songs. He also drew on ideas in the contemporary music of his time. His sound has a classical flavor due to the heavy use of the string orchestra. But he also made some use of electronic keyboards and guitars in harmony with the strings, or alternating with the strings. His best work is published as recordings under the name of the singer. The singers include
Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum (; 31 December 1898 – 3 February 1975) was an Egyptians, Egyptian singer and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. She was given the honorific title (). Immensely popular throughout the Middle East and beyond, Umm Kul ...
, Abdel Halim Hafez,
Shadia Fatma Ahmad Kamal Shaker (; 8 February 193128 November 2017), better known by her stage name Shadia (, ''Shādya''), was an Egyptian actress and singer. She was famous for her roles in light comedies and Drama (film and television), drama in th ...
, Layla Murad, Najat Al Saghira, Fayza Ahmed, Warda (whom he was married to for a decade),
Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...
, and other singers. He had also collaborated with the legendary singer Aziza Jalal who promoted her songs Mestaniak and Haramt El Hob Alaya one of the best Arabic songs in the 80s. In the 1990s, Arab artists who took up this style were Amr Diab, Moustafa Amar,
Najwa Karam Najwa Karam (; ; born 26 February 1966) is a Lebanon, Lebanese singer, songwriter, producer, fashion icon, and television personality. She has sold over 60 million records worldwide and was recognized as the highest-selling Lebanese people, Leba ...
, Elissa,
Nawal Al Zoghbi Nawal El Zoghbi (, also spelled Nawal Al Zoghbi; born 29 June 1972) is a Lebanon, Lebanese singer and actress. She is called the Golden Star, She achieved popularity first by singing traditional Arabic music with a pop sensibility, and also em ...
,
Nancy Ajram Nancy Nabil Ajram (, ; born May 16, 1983) is a Lebanese singer, television personality, and businesswoman, dubbed by Spotify as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Arab Pop". With the support of her father, she began performing ...
, Haifa Wehbe,
Angham Angham Mohamed Ali Suleiman ( ; born 19 January 1972), known by the mononym Angham (), is an Egyptian singer, recording artist, and actress. Her debut was in 1987 under the guidance of her father, Mohammad Suleiman. Following her divorce from ...
, Fadl Shaker, Majida Al Roumi,
Wael Kfoury Michel Émile Kfoury (; born 14 September 1974), known by his stage name Wael Kfoury (), is a Lebanese singer, musician, songwriter, and actor. Career Wael studied solfège at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik. Commercial deals Kfoury signed ...
, Asalah Nasri,
Myriam Fares Myriam Fares (, ; born 3 May 1983) is a Lebanese singer, actress, and entertainer. She began her career in 2003, and released her debut single "Ana Wel Shoq". Following the success of that single, she released her self-titled debut studio alb ...
, Carole Samaha, Yara, Samira Said, Hisham Abbas, Kadhem Al Saher, Ehab Tawfik, Mohamed Fouad, Diana Haddad,
Mohamed Mounir Mohamed Mounir (; born October 10, 1954) is an Egyptian singer and actor, with a musical career spanning more than four decades. He incorporates various genres into his music, including classical Egyptian music, Nubian music, Blues, Jazz and ...
, Latifa,
Cheb Khaled Khaled Hadj Ibrahim (, ; born 29 February 1960), better known by his mononym Khaled (), is an Algerian raï singer, musician and songwriter. He began recording in his early teens under the name Cheb Khaled (, Arabic for "Young" Khaled, with " ...
, George Wassouf, Hakim, Fares Karam, Julia Boutros, and Amal Hijazi. In 1936, Iraq Radio was established by the Iraqi Jewish musicians, Saleh and Daoud al-Kuwaity. The brothers played a pioneering role in the modern music of Iraq. Saleh was considered the father of Iraqi maqam and wrote the first song. He also composed for famous singers of that era in Iraq and the Arab world, such as Salima Murad, Afifa Iskandar, Nazem al-Ghazali,
Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum (; 31 December 1898 – 3 February 1975) was an Egyptians, Egyptian singer and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. She was given the honorific title (). Immensely popular throughout the Middle East and beyond, Umm Kul ...
, Mohammed Abdel Wahab. One of the main reasons for the predominance of Jewish instrumentalists in early 20th century Iraqi music was a school for blind Jewish children in Baghdad founded in the late 1920s by the ''qanunji'' ("qanun player") Joseph Hawthorne ('' Yusef Za'arur'') (
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
: דנדהי ללוואלד-יוסף זערור). Salima Pasha was one of the most famous singers of the 1930s–1940s. The respect and adoration for Pasha were unusual at the time, since public performance by women was considered shameful in the region, and most female singers were recruited from brothels. The music in Iraq began to take a more Western tone during the 1960s and 1970s, notably by Ilham Madfai, with his Western guitar stylings with traditional Iraqi music which made him a popular performer in his native country and throughout the Middle East.


Influence of Arabic music

The majority of
musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...
s used in European medieval and classical music have roots in Arabic musical instruments that were adopted from the medieval
Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...
. They include the
lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...
, which shares an ancestor with the '' oud''; rebec (an ancestor of the violin) from ''
rebab ''Rebab'' (, ''rabāba'', variously spelled ''rebap'', ''rubob'', ''rebeb'', ''rababa'', ''rabeba'', ''robab'', ''rubab'', ''rebob'', etc) is the name of several related string instruments that independently spread via Islamic trading rout ...
'', guitar from ''qitara'', naker from '' naqareh'', adufe from '' al-duff'', alboka from ''al-buq'', ''anafil'' from '' al-nafir'', exabeba (a type of flute) from ''al-shabbaba'', atabal (a type of
bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter usually greater than its depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The head ...
) from ''al-tabl'', atambal from ''al-tinbal'', the balaban,
castanet Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument ( idiophonic), used in Spanish, Calé, Moorish, Ottoman, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Sephardic, Portuguese, Filipino, Brazilian, and Swiss music. In ancient ...
from ''kasatan'', and sonajas de azófar from ''sunuj al-sufr''. The Arabic rabāb, also known as the spiked fiddle, is the earliest known
bowed string instrument Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow (music), bow rubbing the string (music), strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound. Despite the numerous spe ...
and the ancestor of all the European bowed instruments, including the rebec, the
Byzantine lyra The Byzantine lyra or lira () was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. In its popular form, the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by stopping ...
, and the violin. The Arabic oud in Arab music shares an ancestor with the European
lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...
. The oud is also cited as a precursor to the modern guitar. The guitar has roots in the four-string oud, brought to Iberia by the
Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...
in the 8th century. A direct ancestor of the modern guitar is the ' (Moorish guitar), which was in use in Spain by the 12th century. By the 14th century, it was simply referred to as a guitar. A number of medieval conical bore instruments were likely introduced or popularized by Arab musicians, including the xelami (from ''zulami''). Some scholars believe that the
troubador A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''. The tro ...
s may have had Arabian origins, with Magda Bogin stating that the Arab poetic and musical tradition was one of several influences on European "courtly love poetry". Évariste Lévi-Provençal and other scholars stated that three lines of a poem by
William IX of Aquitaine William IX ( or , ; 22 October 1071 – 10 February 1126), called the Troubadour, was the Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitou (as William VII) between 1086 and his death. He was also one of the leaders of the Crusade of 1101. Thoug ...
were in some form of Arabic, indicating a potential Andalusian origin for his works. The scholars attempted to translate the lines in question and produced various different translations. The medievalist Istvan Frank contended that the lines were not Arabic at all, but instead the result of the rewriting of the original by a later scribe. The theory that the troubadour tradition was created by William after his experience of
Moorish The term Moor is an exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defi ...
arts while fighting with the
Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...
in Spain has been championed by
Ramón Menéndez Pidal Ramón Menéndez Pidal (; 13 March 1869 – 14 November 1968) was a Spanish philologist and historian."Ramon Menendez Pidal", ''Almanac of Famous People'' (2011) ''Biography in Context'', Gale, Detroit He worked extensively on the history of t ...
and
Idries Shah Idries Shah (; , , ; 16 June 1924 – 23 November 1996), also known as Idris Shah, Indries Shah, né Sayyid, Sayed Idries el-Hashemite, Hashimi (Arabic: ) and by the pen name Arkon Daraul, was an Afghans, Afghan author, thinker and teacher in ...
. George T. Beech states that there is only one documented battle that William fought in Spain, and it occurred towards the end of his life. Beech adds that William and his father did have Spanish individuals within their extended family, and that while there is no evidence he himself knew Arabic, he may have been friendly with some Europeans who could speak the language. Others state that the notion that William created the concept of troubadours is itself incorrect, and that his "songs represent not the beginnings of a tradition but summits of achievement in that tradition." Most scholars believe that Guido of Arezzo's Solfège musical notation system had its origins in a Latin hymn, but others suggest that it may have had Arabic origins instead. It has been argued that the Solfège syllables (''do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti'') may have been derived from the syllables of an Arabic solmization system ''Durr-i-Mufassal'' ("Separated Pearls") (''dal, ra, mim, fa, sad, lam''). This was first proposed by Meninski in his ''Thesaurus Linguarum Orientalum'' (1680). However, there is no documentary evidence for this theory, and no Arabic musical manuscripts using sequences from the Arabic alphabet are known to exist. Henry George Farmer believes that there is no firm evidence on the origins of the notation, and therefore the Arabian origin theory and the hymnal origin theories are equally credible.


Improvisational music in the Arab world

Ethnomusicologist Ali Jihad Racy talks about the improvisation style of music that is present in much of the
Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...
. Racy discusses the regional attitudes towards improvisation music in the Middle East describing that improvisation can suggest casual or untrained or even non-professional music-making. This is held only by certain communities within the Arab world, Arabic world and can differ from each region or community. Some regions look at improvisation music as the intuitive artistic ability that momentarily expresses the feeling of the player. Other groups tend to view improvisation as though it is the fulfillment of music transcending the classical maqam style or other styles of music playing. Other schools of thought on improvisation music, in the Arab world, believe that improvisation music shows a lack of understanding in musical training. Racy does not specify which groups have what views. Rather, the discussion is more focused on the idea that the Arabic music world is not wikt:monolithic, monolithic in its view on improvisation in music. Other groups view improvisation as only learned through trial and error taking many years to perfect thus being a style played professionals.


Taqsim

A respected tradition in improvisation music is known as Taqsim. Taqsim music uses a
maqam Maqam, makam, maqaam or maqām (plural maqāmāt) may refer to: Musical structures * Arabic maqam, melodic modes in traditional Arabic music ** Iraqi maqam, a genre of Arabic maqam music found in Iraq * Persian maqam, a notion in Persian clas ...
and improvises the form or structure of the song, which creates a cathartic experience for the listener. Further, the improvisation aspects go beyond the form and are expressed in the Quarter tone, quartertones of the song. This tradition historically was performed as a chant. Now it is used by performers on the oud/ud, violin, or nay, a type of flute. This style of improvisation is known for the effects it can conjure up in a listener. Listeners may laugh, cry, and shout at different points in the performance due to the emotions evoked by the music.


Improvisation in Chant

* A certain type of Arabic chant is in the melismatic style and is both long and highly ornamented. It has specific elements of free rhythm and improvisation as part of its structure. Syllabic chant is Isochronic tones, isochronic and is accompanied by an al-durbkkeh (a percussion instrument or drum) while being relatively fast in its nature. There is usually participation from the listeners who contribute through the clapping of hands to the rhythm. * Ethnomusicologist Jargy tells of another type of improvisation music in which he uses the name ''Median''''.'' This music is a combination of the syllabic chant and the melismatic style. Median improvisation music uses more extreme improvisation methods and expands the boundaries of improvisation and is usually faster than syllabic chant. * The last improvisation style discussed by Jargy is the recitative style that is sung predominantly by women and is built on aural tradition.


Genres


Franco-Arabic

Franco-Arabic music is a form of music similar to modern Arabic Pop. The genre was popularized by artists such as Dalida from Egypt, Sammy Clark from Lebanon and Aldo from Australia. Franco-Arabic music includes a variety of languages, including Arabic, Italian, French Arabic and English.


Arabic R&B, reggae, and hip hop

A rise of Arabic rhythm and blues, R&B, reggae and hip hop has been taking place since the early 2010s. These songs usually feature a rapper in a traditional Arab pop song (such as Ishtar (singer), Ishtar's song 'Habibi Sawah'). The Moroccan singer Elam Jay developed a contemporary version of the Gnawa music, Gnawa genre that is fused with R&B, named ''Gnawitone Styla''. Another variation of contemporary Gnawa played in Music of Morocco, Morocco was introduced by the band Darga (band), Darga. Based in Casablanca, the group utilises a mix Gnawa and Reggae in some of their songs. Political Reggae artists such as TootArd from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights started gaining popularity in Palestine in 2011 after the release of a song about the Arab Spring (mainly the Tunisian revolution), called "The Green Revolution". It was sung by them and an ensemble of Palestinian artists, most notable among them being Mahmoud Jrere of DAM (rap group), DAM. Another notable Arab artist is Shadia Mansour, who is a Palestinian British rapper known as "The First Lady of Arab Hip Hop. Much of her music focuses on the Palestinian cause. Starting in the 2010s, some artists such as Darine began to utilise fully R&B and reggae beats in their songs. This has been met with mixed reviews and mixed commercial performance.


Arabic electronica

A combination of electronic music with traditional Middle Eastern instruments has been popularized by Richii with songs like "Ana Lubnaneyoun".


Arabic jazz

Arabic jazz using jazz instruments has become popular. Musicians like Samir Suroor began to play the saxophone in the "oriental" style. Abdel Halim Hafez, Kadim Al Sahir and Rida Al Abdallah also play in this style. The first mainstream jazz elements were incorporated into Arabic music by the Rahbani brothers. Fairuz's later work was almost exclusively made up of jazz songs, composed by her son Ziad Rahbani. Ziad Rahbani also pioneered today's oriental jazz movement, to which singers including Rima Khcheich, Salma El Mosfi, and (on occasion) Latifa adhere. We can also find a lot of jazz music in
Mohamed Mounir Mohamed Mounir (; born October 10, 1954) is an Egyptian singer and actor, with a musical career spanning more than four decades. He incorporates various genres into his music, including classical Egyptian music, Nubian music, Blues, Jazz and ...
's songs starting from his first album Alemony Eneeki in 1977, and he is considered to be the King of Arabic Jazz and Arabic Music generally. Another notable performer of this genre is the Palestinian singer Reem Kelani who blends jazz with Arabic music, both in her own compositions and in her arrangements of traditional songs. Arabic Jazz has met many new kinds of composition since the end of the 20th century: * Modal forms with Anouar Brahem and Rabih Abou Khalil * Mixed electric sound experiences with Dhafer Youssef and Kamal Musallam * New pop jazz styles with Titi Robin and Toufic Farroukh * Other acoustic youth experiences with Hamdi Makhlouf, Amine and Hamza M'raihi, Amine & Hamza M'raihi and Jasser Haj Youssef


Arabic rock

There have been many Arab rock bands along the years that fused rock, Heavy metal music, metal and alternative rock sounds with traditional Arab instruments. Arabic rock has been gaining attention in the Middle East since the early 2000s, with bands such as Tanjaret Daghet, JadaL, Kayan, Autostrad, El Morabba3, Akher Zapheer, The Wanton Bishops, Mashrou' Leila, Adonis (band), Adonis and Meen (band), Meen, Cairokee, Massar Egbari, Sahara, Wyvern, Cartoon Killerz, Khalas, Chaos and Acrassicauda all gaining popularity. Recently, there has been a new wave of bands emerging in the underground scene across the Arab world. These include Shaghaf, Khayal, Sada That, Code Masr and Hawas of Music of Egypt, Egypt and Ayloul of Music of Lebanon, Lebanon.


Musical regions

The world of modern Arabic music has long been dominated by musical trends that have emerged from
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
, Egypt. The city is generally considered one of the important cultural centers in the Arab world. Innovations in popular music via the influence of other regional styles have also abounded from Morocco to Saudi Arabia. In recent years, Beirut has become an important city where singers can fluently sing in various Varieties of Arabic, Arabic Dialects. Other regional styles that have enjoyed popular music status throughout the Arab world, including:


North Africa

* Al Jeel (
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
) * Shaabi Music (
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
) * Mawwal (
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
) * Semsemya (
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
) * Andalusian classical music (Morocco and Algeria) and Tunisia * Malouf (Libya) * Chaabi (Algeria) * Chaabi (Morocco) * gnawa music, Gnawa (Morocco and the southwest of Algeria) * Haqibah * Malhun (Morocco) * Mezwed (Tunisia) * Raï (Algeria) * Sanaa (Algeria) * Ma'luf, Malouf (Algeria) * Bedoui (Algeria)


Arabian Peninsula

* Music of Yemen#Adeni, Adani * Hadhrami Music#The Dan, Dan Hadhrami * Ardah * Ardham * Bandari Khaliji * Dazah * Fann at-Tanbura * Fijiri * Hadhrami Music * Khabayti * Khaliji (music), Khaliji * Khuwizaani * Music of Yemen#Lahji, Lahji * Liwa (music), Liwa * Mizmar (dance), Mizmar * M'alayah * Rumba Khaliji * Samri * Music of Yemen#Sana'ani, Sana'ani * sawt (music), Sawt * Shaabi Khaliji * Yanbaawi * Yowlah * Zafah Khaliji * Music of Yemen


Sacred and Art music


Sacred music

Arabic religious music includes Jewish music, Jewish (Pizmonim and Baqashot), Christian music, Christian, and Islamic music, Islamic music. However, Islamic music is structurally equivalent to Arabic secular music, while Christian Arab music has been influenced by Syriac sacral music, Syriac Orthodox, Roman Catholic Church, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Anglican, Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Coptic, and Maronite church music.


Art music

Secular art musical genres include maqam al-iraqi, andalusi nubah, muwashshah, Fijiri songs, qasidah, layali, mawwal, taqsim, bashraf, sama'i, tahmilah, dulab, sawt (music), sawt, and liwa (music), liwa.


Characteristics of Arabic music

Much of Arabic music is characterized by an emphasis on melody and
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...
, as opposed to harmony. There are some genres of Arabic music that are polyphonic, but typically, Arabic music is homophony, homophonic. Habib Hassan Touma submits that there are five components that characterize Arabic music: # The Arab tone system; that is, a musical tuning system that relies on specific interval structures and was invented by
al-Farabi file:A21-133 grande.webp, thumbnail, 200px, Postage stamp of the USSR, issued on the 1100th anniversary of the birth of Al-Farabi (1975) Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi (; – 14 December 950–12 January 951), known in the Greek East and Latin West ...
in the 10th century # Rhythmic-temporal structures that produce a rich variety of
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...
ic patterns, known as ''Rhythm in Arabian music, awzan'' or "weight", that are used to accompany metered vocal and instrumental genres, to accent or give them form. # A number of
musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...
s that are found throughout the Arab world that represent a standardized tone system, are played with generally standardized performance techniques, and display similar details in construction and design. # Specific social contexts that produce sub-categories of Arabic music, or musical genres that can be broadly classified as urban (music of the city inhabitants), rural (music of the country inhabitants), or Bedouin (music of the desert inhabitants)..." # An Arab musical mentality, "responsible for the esthetic homogeneity of the tonal-spatial and rhythmic-temporal structures throughout the Arab world whether musical composition, composed or improvised, instrumental or vocal, secular or sacred."


Maqam system

The basis of Arabic music is the
maqam Maqam, makam, maqaam or maqām (plural maqāmāt) may refer to: Musical structures * Arabic maqam, melodic modes in traditional Arabic music ** Iraqi maqam, a genre of Arabic maqam music found in Iraq * Persian maqam, a notion in Persian clas ...
(pl. maqamat), which looks like the mode, but is not quite the same. The Tonic (music), tonic note, Dominant (music), dominant note, and ending note (unless modulation occurs) are generally determined by the maqam used. Arabic maqam theory as described in literature over the ages names between 90 and 110 maqams, that are grouped into larger categories known as fasilah. Fasilah are groupings of maqams whose first four primary pitches are shared in common.


Ajnas

The maqam consists of at least two ''ajnas'', or scale segments. ''Ajnas'' is the plural form of ''jins'', which in Arabic comes from the Latin word ''genus'', meaning "type". In practice, a jins is either a trichord (three notes), a tetrachord (four notes), or a pentachord (five notes). A maqam usually covers only one octave (usually two ajnas), but can cover more. Like the melodic minor scale, some maqamat use different ajnas when descending and ascending. Due to continuous innovation and the emergence of new ajnas, and because most music scholars have not reached consensus on the subject, a solid figure for the total number of ajnas in use is uncertain. In practice, however, most musicians would agree there are at least eight major ajnas: ''rast'', ''bayat'', ''sikah'', ''hijaz'', ''saba'', ''kurd'', ''nahawand'', and ''ajam'', and commonly used variants such as ''nakriz'', ''athar kurd'', ''sikah beladi'', ''saba zamzama''. For example, ''Mukhalif'' is a rare jins (in the Sikah) family used almost exclusively in Iraq, and it is not used in combination with other ajnas.


Microtones in Arabic music

Unlike the tradition of Western music, Arabic music contains Microtonal music, microtones, which are notes that lie between notes in the Western chromatic scale. While notes in the chromatic scale are separated by semitones (or half steps), notes in Arabic music can be separated by quarter tones. In some treatments of theory, the quarter tone scale or all twenty four tones should exist, but according to Yusuf Shawqi, Yūsuf Shawqī (1969), fewer tones are used in practice. Additionally, in 1932, at the Cairo Congress of Arab Music held in Cairo, Egypt—and attended by such Western luminaries as Béla Bartók and Henry George Farmer—experiments were done that determined conclusively that the notes in actual use differ substantially from an even-tempered 24-tone scale. Furthermore, the intonation of many of those notes differ slightly from region to region (Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Iraq).


Regional scales

As a result of these findings, the following recommendation was issued: "The tempered scale and the natural scale should be rejected. In Egypt, the Egyptian scale is to be kept with the values, which were measured with all possible precision. The Turkish, Syrian, and Iraqi scales should remain what they are...." Both in modern practice, and evident in recorded music over the course of the last century, several differently-tuned Es in between the E-flat and E-natural of the Western Chromatic scale are used, that vary according to the types of maqams and ajnas used, and the region in which they are used.


Practical treatment

Musicians and teachers refer to these in-between notes as quarter tones, using "half-flat" or "half-sharp" as a designation for the in-between flats and sharps, for ease of nomenclature. Performance and teaching of the exact values of intonation in each jins or maqam is usually done by ear. It should also be added, in reference to Habib Hassan Touma's comment above, that these quarter tones are not used everywhere in the maqamat: in practice, Arabic music does not modulate to 12 different tonic areas like the Well-Tempered Klavier. The most commonly used quarter tones are on E (between E and E), A, B, D, F (between F and F), and C.


Vocal traditions

Arab classical music is known for its famed virtuoso singers, who sing long, elaborately ornamented, melismatic tunes, coloraturas unheard in any other musical genres and are known for driving audiences into ecstasy. Its traditions come from pre-Islamic times, when female singing slavery, slaves entertained the wealthy, inspired warriors on the battlefield with their rajaz poetry, and performed at weddings. A vast number of female Arab vocalists are mezzo-sopranos who cultivate darker and richer tones than generic Soprano voices.


Instruments and ensembles

The prototypical Arabic music ensemble in Egypt and Syria is known as the Takht (music), takht, and includes, (or included at different time periods) instruments such as the 'oud, kanun (instrument), qānūn, rabab, ney, violin (introduced in the 1840s or 50s), riq and goblet drum, dumbek. In Iraq, the traditional ensemble, known as the chalga, chalghi, includes only two melodic instruments—the jowza (similar to the rabab but with four strings) and Santur (Iraqi instrument), santur—accompanied by the riq and dumbek. The Arab world has incorporated instruments from the West, including the electric guitar, cello, double bass and oboe, and incorporated influences from jazz and other foreign musical styles. The singers have remained the stars, however, especially after the development of the recording and film industry in the 1920s in
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
. These singing celebrities are (or were) the biggest stars in Arabic classic music, they include Farid al-Atrash, Farid Al Attrache, Asmahan, Abdel Halim Hafez, Sayed Darwish, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Warda Al-Jazairia, Wadih El Safi, Fairuz,
Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...
, and
Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum (; 31 December 1898 – 3 February 1975) was an Egyptians, Egyptian singer and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. She was given the honorific title (). Immensely popular throughout the Middle East and beyond, Umm Kul ...
.


Research and documentation of Arabic music

Even though musical traditions in the Arab world have been handed down orally, Arab scholars
Al-Kindi Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī (; ; ; ) was an Arab Muslim polymath active as a philosopher, mathematician, physician, and music theorist Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understandin ...
, Abulfaraj or
Al-Farabi file:A21-133 grande.webp, thumbnail, 200px, Postage stamp of the USSR, issued on the 1100th anniversary of the birth of Al-Farabi (1975) Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi (; – 14 December 950–12 January 951), known in the Greek East and Latin West ...
and later Safi al-Din published treatises in Arabic music since at least the 9th century AD. In 1932, the first Cairo Congress of Arab Music, Congress of Arab Music was held in Cairo, where scholarship about the past, present and future of Arabic music was presented both from Western as well as Arab experts. The results were later documented, both in writing as well as in the form of audio recordings. Research on Arabic music is a focus of departments of ethnomusicology at universities worldwide, and the global interest in World music has led to a growing number of studies and re-issues of historic recordings by independent researchers or private companies. Making use of digital archives for texts, pictures and sounds, detailed information on the history of Arabic music is also made accessible over the Internet. The Lebanese foundation AMMAR, for example, is committed to the preservation and dissemination of traditional Arab music and has published a host of historical documents.


See also

* Arabic poetry * Byzantine music * Durood * Hamd * Islamic music * Islamic poetry * Mawlid * Mehfil * Middle Eastern music * Music of Africa * Music of Asia * Music of Southeastern Europe * Na'at * Nasheed * North African music * Pizmonim * Sufi music * Sufi poetry * Sufism * History of Sufism * Arabic Oud House * Arabic pop music


References


Further reading

* Lodge, David and Bill Badley. "Partner of Poetry". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), ''World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East'', pp 323–331. Rough Guides Ltd., Penguin Books. ISBN * * Shiloah, Amnon. ''Music in the World of Islam. A Socio-Cultural Study'' 2001. ISBN * Julián Ribera y Tarragó. ''La música árabe y su influencia en la española'' (1985). * Fernández Manzano, Reynaldo. ''De las melodías del reino nazarí de Granada a las estructuras musicales cristianas. La transformación de las tradiciones Hispano-árabes en la península Ibérica''. 1984. * Fernández Manzano, Reynaldo y Santiago Simón, Emilio de (Coordinación y supervisión ed.). ''Música y Poesía del Sur de al-Andalus''. 1995. * Fernández Manzano, Reynaldo.: ''La música de al-Andalus en la cultura medieval, imágenes en el tiempo'', Granada, Universidad e Granada, 2012.


External links

*
Information about history of music from Arabic texts

Arabic 78 RPM Records Collection at Harvard Loeb Music LibraryMaqam World
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arabic music Arabic music, Middle Eastern music Music of North Africa Classical and art music traditions